March 14, 2007
I’ve recommended Worthwhile magazine in the past and was surprised when it seemed to disappear. And then recently I was reading a new magazine called Motto and discovered that Motto is the new Worthwhile. As explained here, a trademark challenge prompted the name change.
Motto’s, well, motto continues to be “purpose, passion and profit.” I recently reread an ABA article arguing that an unscientific survey showed that 84.2% of law firm associates would accept lower pay in exchange for lower billable hour requirements. (Interesting, the article was dated February 2, right around the time of the associate pay hike.) With that in mind, I was taken by Kevin Salwen’s editor’s letter in the March/April issue of Motto. A few excerpts….
Not long ago, a study about happiness showed how poorly people predict what will bring them joy. The research focused on individual’s behaviors: When they felt unhappy, they would buy themselves a Porsche. That would bring a short-term jolt of pleasure, followed by another feeling of emptiness.
***
There is a parallel in our jobs. Early in our lives, we buy into the cult, we are all about our careers. . . And because we feel we must, we work more than we sleep, exercise, reflect or spend time with family or friends . . . combined. We become truly unhealthy beings — uni-dimensional, soulless.
What I like about this excerpt is that it implicitly recognizes that working to the point of unhealth occurs only when it happens “because we feel we must.” I’ve struggled with the condescension heaped on those who enjoy their work and enjoy it to a point that others consider it excessive. This is the hot worm phenomenon that Stephanie West Allen describes describes. Some lawyers love their work and are drawn to it. Perhaps it’s contiguous with their lives so that it’s hard to see where “work” ends and “life” starts — maybe it’s all the same.Â
That said, I think it’s common that work is just that — work. Not particularly rewarding or satisfying, but required with increasingly burdensome hours. And that’s when workers become soulless, when lawyers wonder why they made the mistake of going to law school.Â
And I recently ran across another quote lately that may cast some light on all this: “There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.” So said Marlene Dietrich. I completely agree, and I’d suggest that those who work harder-harder-harder to earn more-more-more are likely “only” to amass a great deal of money, whereas those who love what they’re doing and do it for love (even while enjoying the financial benefits that kind of work may bring) are indeed rich.
Comments, as always, welcome!
Julie Fleming Brown coaches attorneys on professional development, career management, and client development issues. Please visit www.LifeAtTheBar.com for more information, or contact Julie at 800.758.6214.
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Lots of food for thoughts here, Julie. Good stuff!
I subscribed to Worthwhile (Motto) and after two issues gave it up. My motto for Motto was “read about the self-absorbed…spiritual materialism at its best.”
Rich – Dennis Kozloski of Tyco fame (or infamy)
Wealty- Warren Buffet
enough said
The “unhappiness” factor in part, for me and my coaching clients, is a function of separation…when one separates from one’s True and Real Self, one’s heart, the only other direction one can move in is towards ego. Ego-driven behaviors, as hard as one tries, can never fill the void of emptiness and deficiency…and like chemical and non-chemical drugs, the efforts to fill the void of unhappiness need to be progressive., i.e., needing more, better, larger, bigger, more expensive, sexier, more handsome, slimmer, and on and on. Happiness..emptiness….enough….not enough…satisfying…unsatisfying…Not unlike Sisyphus.
When we become attached to something or someone in order to have our identity, to define us, (e.g., I am an attorney, I am a runner, I am a superman or a supermom, I am my son/daughter on the honor roll….) instead of being just “me”, that to which we are attached for our self-image, for our identity, for “me”, soon becomes an addiction or an obsession. Why? Because if I lose that connection, then I am “no one” and being “no one” is tantamount to dying (emotionally, psychologically, even physically). So, the, again Sisyphean drive to be someone, to have an identity to remain attached in order to have some sense of (external) value and self-worth.
It’s in this place of attachment, identification, that folks begin to experience disequilibriium and fogginess in mind, emotion, body and spirit and begin to make unhealthy choices at work, at home and at play.
From a place of healthy equilibrium, ideals and ambitions are self-sustaining and supportive. From a place of unhealthy equilibrium, ideals and ambitions are self-destructive and eventually self-defeating.
Great post.